January 1, 2025 • 42 mins
The Season 4 kickoff episode features Maya, a missionary serving in Southeast Asia, who shares her journey from a comfortable upbringing to embracing a life dedicated to reaching unreached people groups. She discusses her cultural adjustments, the importance of building relationships in her new home, and the challenges of living out her faith in a foreign culture.
• Maya’s background as a Chinese American raised in a strong Christian household
• Awakening to the Great Commission and the concept of unreached people groups
• Insights into navigating cultural differences in Southeast Asia
• The significance of food and hospitality in building connections
• The relational emphasis in missionary work over immediate conversions
• Challenges tied to identity, access, and the legality of missionary work
• Growing faith and reliance on God amidst uncertainties
• Encouragement for listeners to consider their roles in mission work
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven,
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey friends, thank you so much for listening to the
Unreached podcast.
Today we kick off season four.
Dustin has a special guest fromthe front lines of Southeast
Asia, so let's jump into thestudio and hear all that God has
for us today.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached
podcast Dustin Elliott here yourhost.
Welcome back to the UnreachedPodcast, dustin Elliott here
your host.
First up today kicking off ournew season is a friend of ours
that we've got to know over thelast year.
Her name is Maya.
Maya is serving in SoutheastAsia.
She is a wonderful 28-year-oldsingle woman and, as you may
(01:27):
know, our most popular guestever is also a 28-year-old
single woman, although she'sserving in the Middle East.
So, maya, thank you so much forbeing here with us today and
welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Of course.
So we're just going to have acandid conversation today.
I think listeners would justlove to hear your story.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I know your listeners can't see me, but usually
people can.
I am Chinese American and sothat means that my parents were
not born in America, but theywere actually born in Hong Kong.
My dad came to the States as afreshman in college by himself.
When he came he really came notknowing anybody, not knowing
(02:04):
anything.
He spoke some English becausethey teach it in Hong Kong, but
he had no connections, nofriends here.
He's the youngest of six andwhen he left Hong Kong my
grandma basically gave him aplatinum necklace at the time,
like the most expensive thingshe had, and she said just do
your best and if it doesn't workout you can sell this necklace
(02:24):
and come home and you'll have ahome here.
And so that was kind of hisstory and I think, weirdly, in a
lot of ways my life hasmirrored his now because I ended
up moving to another countrynot knowing anything or anyone,
and I understand him a littlebit better, I think, because of
that.
But anyways, he came to theStates and then a lot of like
(02:45):
college campuses will have somekind of outreach ministry,
especially for internationalstudents or for people who speak
a certain language, and so hecame to a university that had a
group of Hong Kong studentsalready there and they kind of
had this ministry where theywould pick you up and get you
set up and help you out.
They kind of had this ministrywhere they would pick you up and
(03:06):
get you set up and help you out, and so that was kind of.
His first friend group was abunch of Christians in America
and he ended up becoming aChristian.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
How bad.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I wish that story was told more often.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's anotherlong story, I think, of how God
moves peoples in the world toaccomplish his plans.
But yeah, that was his story.
And then my mom came in highschool with her family.
So her dad left Hong Kong whenshe was very, very young so
young in fact that she doesn'tremember him at all and then he
(03:36):
came and did the kind of classicimmigrant thing of working in
America and sending money home.
So my grandma on my mom's sidehad the four kids in Hong Kong
and then when my mom was 13, mygrandpa saved up enough money to
bring the whole family over,and so my mom's kind of first
memory of having an earthlyfather was when she was 13.
(03:57):
And she came to America andkind of met him in a weird way,
and so that was a little bit ofher story and her testimony as
well, because she realized thateverybody was talking about God
as a father in her life, likethe people who were Christians
around her, and she had notreally experienced having a
father, and so that kind ofpiqued her initial curiosity
(04:21):
about who God was and like whathe is.
You know, they ended up meetingand getting married later and
then they moved to Californiawhere they raised my older
brother and me, and so they wereboth Christians at that point
and they were very involved inlocal church.
They brought up me in theknowledge of the gospel in a
(04:45):
body of really loving believersChinese believers out in
California.
I think it was a really goodchurch.
I think I learned everythingthat you would want a kid in the
church to learn, exceptmissions.
Maybe I don't say that as acriticism of the church I grew
up in, but as a reality, I think, of the Asian American church
(05:08):
as a whole.
There are certain topics thatare almost considered off limits
.
So youth pastors in particular,if they are going to preach
about giving up your career andgiving up, you know, your stable
income to go overseas and be amissionary, that would be pretty
controversial in an AsianAmerican church, I think.
In general Not always, notalways, but that was kind of my
(05:31):
experience and so what welearned was the Bible, but kind
of how I took it in my own wayas a kid was very much like.
Being a Christian means that yougrow up and go to a four year
college and then you go tograduate school and then you
work hard and you take care ofyour family and you take care of
your parents, and that's allpart of being a good Christian,
(05:53):
and it's not that those thingsgo against Christianity in any
way.
They're harmonious.
But at the same time, reallythe point of Christianity is not
that life, that comfortablesecurity that we in America tend
to really idolize in a lot ofways, particularly immigrant
families, because they haveworked so hard for it, because
they have already sacrificed somuch for it.
(06:13):
And so when I got to college Iwent to a college that wasn't
close enough to the church Igrew up in to attend any longer,
and so I found a new church,and this new church was
different.
It was different from my homechurch.
This new church was a lot morefocused on missions.
This new church, I think, had agreater understanding of the
(06:36):
Great Commission as it appliesto kind of God's greater
redemptive historical plan forthe nations.
And so in college I startedgoing on some short-term mission
trips.
I started hearing more frommissionaries.
I started hearing basicallywhat an unreached people group
is and that these groups exist.
Previously I really had no ideathat these groups existed.
(06:59):
I knew that there were peopleout there that weren't Christian
.
I knew that there werecountries where there weren't a
lot of Christians.
But I did not ever reallyconsider the fact that someone
could not have any access to thegospel, meaning there wouldn't
be a church in their language,there wouldn't be a Bible
translation that they could read.
So even if they wanted to, evenif there was somebody that had
(07:21):
some curiosity about God in thatpeople group, they wouldn't be
able to understand and theywouldn't be able to hear.
And I think that really moved me, it really convicted me hearing
how many groups are left, howbig some of these groups are,
and also realizing that the taskthat God gave to the church,
the Great Commission, was givento me as well, that it wasn't
(07:46):
some kind of side project thatsome missionaries in the church
who are really passionate aboutwell, it's kind of their thing
right, like I don't do that, butI'm glad somebody does so like
good for them.
But realizing that everyChristian has a part to play in
it and trying to figure out atthat point you know, freshman
sophomore in college like whatis my part and at the beginning
that part was really just beinga good sender I felt like I was
(08:11):
not the person to be amissionary, I was not the person
to go overseas, particularlywith my family background.
I kind of felt like, well, Ijust think it's not me because
of this or because of that, orbecause my parents won't like it
, because they've already donethis, so I could be here.
You know, I just don't thinkI'm the right person.
And so I realized at this point,looking back, that a lot of
(08:32):
those things were kind of justexcuses for my own fears, even
as there are real reasons andreal, real things in my life.
I was also just afraid.
I was afraid to go, I wasafraid of what would happen, I
was afraid of what, you know, myfamily would say, or, yeah, I
was afraid of the financialinstability of it all at the
same time.
And so it took a lot of years,I think of God working on my
(08:54):
heart and the spirit moving forme to come to a place where I
could really let some of thosethings go and lay them down
before the Lord.
Those things go and lay themdown before the Lord.
Even, as you know, I thinkwe're very quick to say, yeah,
god, you could have everything.
You could have my life, youcould have my plans, you could
have this, you could have that,but in our hearts, we know what
we're not putting before him, weknow what we're keeping from
(09:15):
him, and I think there was a lotof those things that took me a
lot of time and thankfully, alot of other faithful older
believers in my life were alsoworking on that as well and kind
of patiently discipling me andleading me and guiding me.
So, looking back, it was reallya lot of different things over
a long period of time.
(09:36):
I was not the kid that kind ofjumped up and said yes, I want
to be a missionary.
I was not brave enough, but itwas really a gradual process.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
What happened for you to go?
Like that's my calling, likethat's the role I want to play.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
To be honest, I still am not sure.
Like every day I wake up andI'm like how did I get here?
How did I end up here?
There really is like so manypeople along the way, so many
people in that, which isencouraging, I think, to
mobilizers as well, like if youtalk to someone and it doesn't
seem like they're responding,like maybe you're just the
(10:12):
second of a hundred people to dothat work.
But yeah, there were disciplersin college, particularly at my
church, at my local church, thatwere really focused on just my
maturity in the Lord.
So not necessarily, hey, let'sget you on a plane, but hey,
let's help you to understandmore deeply who you are in the
Lord and live that out, and Ithink that is a huge piece of
(10:34):
this.
It's not really like our goalis to get more butts in seats on
planes.
Really, what we want to do issee people fulfill and be
faithful to the task.
More specifically, with regardto missions, I'm more so talked
with a certain group of reallyconvicted older missionaries,
that kind of work with differentorganizations.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That were being supported by your church, or did
they have them come through?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
They had connections.
So people at my church kind ofknew people who knew people, and
so either people would come toour church and speak or we would
go on short-term missions to,you know, support other people
or participate in differentprograms.
And so, yeah, it was really akind of gradual pieces coming
together.
Number one, like what are youliving for?
(11:20):
So that was a big question forme.
Like I did not know what I wasliving for.
I had never really made anymajor decisions up until that
point.
College is really when you kindof start doing that, and so I
had never sat down and thoughtthrough, like hey, I'm giving
God my Sundays, my Friday nights, my Wednesday nights, but what
about the rest of the week?
What am I doing actually withmy overall life plan for him?
(11:41):
Because my life doesn't belongto me.
So that was kind of.
The first major lesson for mewas realizing that all my
moments belong to the Lord, notjust the ones I choose to give.
And then the next thing waswhat is God doing?
So if I'm giving my life to theLord, I want to be about what
he's about.
So what is he about Besides mywell-being and my good?
What is he about, besides mywell-being and my good, like God
(12:04):
is doing something much bigger.
God has laid out this plan inscripture, from Genesis to
Revelation, of what he is doingin the world.
That it's difficult to grasp, Ithink, as a kid who's listening
to sermons on Sunday.
It's a lot easier if someonesits you down and kind of walks
you through it and you can seethe thread and you can kind of
(12:27):
follow from beginning to endwhere it started, where it was
and then where it's going to end.
And so for me, seeing that Godcreated us, he created all the
nations at the Tower of Babel,but at the same time he has
always promised to bring themall to himself.
But at the same time he hasalways promised to bring them
all to himself.
And we see that with Abraham'sstory, we see that in Psalms, we
(12:48):
see that in the New Testamentwith Christ, and then we see it
very clearly in Revelation atthe vision of heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
This may be a hard question to answer, but it's on
my heart so I'm going to ask it.
Is it conceivably easier foryou to go because your roots
aren't as deep in America as asecond generation daughter of
(13:16):
immigrants to America?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's a good question.
I don't know, maybe I don'tknow if it's easier to go.
I would say it is easier tostay there, and I think I've
seen that play out in a lot ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well said.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Not necessarily in the sense of like I'm.
You know, I'm one of them inthe place where I work, because
I'm not and I never will beaccepted fully as a local, but
at the same time there are thesemulticultural parts of my
background that I think makeadapting to new situations
(13:51):
easier.
So I'm kind of used to sittingdown and not being familiar with
the food and eating it.
Anyways, I'm kind of used to.
You know, I talk one way withthese people and I talk another
way with those other people.
I think that's something that alot of people in America are
actually very used to.
We all do it to a certaindegree.
(14:11):
Right, if you're talking toyour teacher versus if you're
talking to your buddy at school.
But when you grow up in afamily that's not white in
America, I think you kind of getthat, you get the reps in.
You do that a lot more thanmost people might think to do.
And then, with language andculture as well, there are these
big categories of culture thatare really difficult to explain
(14:35):
if you've not experienced them.
And I think for me thosecategories already existed,
because my family is differentand Chinese people are different
from American people, and sothere's kind of a wider
perspective to start from as afoundation when you're trying to
learn something else.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well, okay, so let's go where you've moved, let's go
spend a little time in SoutheastAsia.
Yeah, you, as you noted for thelisteners are not a blonde,
white woman, and so when theymeet you, I wonder, I just
wonder, what language do theyexpect you to speak?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
They expect me to speak their language.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right Are you fluent?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I'm not fluent.
There are about like sevenlevels of language that we use
to assess, okay, and I testedlike level six.
Okay, so you're very, veryclose, sort of sort of.
It's kind of like an upsidedown triangle where the levels
get increasingly bigger and thedifference between the levels
(15:34):
gets increasingly bigger.
I don't want to make this supertechnical.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Would we say you're conversational?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I would say I'm much more than conversational.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Okay, good.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, which I don't say to brag, I say to kind of
encourage other workers to getthere, to get to a place where
you could have a worldviewconversation.
You need to be way more thanconversational.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So now you're on site in Southeast Asia.
You've lived there for severalyears.
Two and a half, two and a halfyears.
Why don't you tell us a coupleof stories?
Who have you met?
What's been most surprising?
What's been most surprising,what's been most challenging and
like, what's been soencouraging?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
There is so many things that happen in your
transition to a new place it'salmost hard to like remember
them all just because every dayis eventful.
I think my initial impressionwas that it's just like loud and
hot.
I think, like most countriesare that way, they're loud and
hot and partly weather, butpartly people as well.
Like, the people are pretty hotheaded and very direct and very
(16:40):
forward in ways that we're notused to here in America, and so,
socially speaking, that took mequite a while to get used to.
Just people kind of coming upto you, starting to talk really
fast, no introduction necessary.
They'll just kind of tell youthings that you'd never asked
them or, you know, expect you tokind of interact with them as
(17:03):
if you've already been goodfriends.
I mean, it's really warm, it'sa warm culture, and so I've
grown to appreciate it.
But at the beginning it's prettyoverwhelming, I would say, to
have people do that, especiallywhen they think that I'm a local
because I look like them and sothere's just a lot of confusion
.
I think, looking back, thefirst months and years are just
(17:23):
kind of overall prettydisorienting because everything
is happening and you don't knowwhy things are happening.
So people are saying things,you don't know why they said
that, or they're doing thingsand you don't know why they did
that and you're trying to kindof figure out this puzzle that's
coming together.
So it is, looking back, such aprivilege to do that because you
really get to walk into a wholenother world that God has
(17:44):
created and a whole notherpeople and to understand them
now and to know, oh, that's whythey do that, they do that out
of respect for me.
That's really special.
I think not everybody gets tohave those kinds of experiences.
So there are a lot of timeswhere, like people that I'm
trying to become friends withare doing things or saying
things that are hard for me totake, are hard for me to hear,
(18:07):
because that's not what we do.
And yet now, looking back, Irealize like they were trying to
show me love, they're trying toshow me care, so some really
small things.
Like people really like tobring you things, they really
like to express theirappreciation through gifts, and
so a lot of the time, likethey'll just show up.
They'll just show up, not kindof checking, if you're home it
(18:32):
doesn't really matter, becauseif you're not home they'll just
go, but if you are home, thenthey'll come in, and so people
would kind of bring me fruitsthat I don't like to eat or
other things, and then sit andlook at you and wait for you to
eat it and tell them how greatit is.
Yeah.
Or even I would get a call andit would be a friend basically
being like, hey, are you home?
And I'd be like, yeah, I amhome, like do you want to hang
out?
And they'd be like, yeah, I'mdownstairs.
(18:52):
And I'm like, okay, cool, Iguess I'll get dressed.
I guess, yeah, I guess I'll getdressed and then go down and
they've got like snacks for meor food for me or something, and
usually they're not things thatI'm used to eating.
They're not not things that Inecessarily like, right, and
there's often way too much of it, like it's not a human size
portion.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Can you give us some examples For 10 people?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, tell us what the foods are.
Come on, we're all dying toknow.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What are the things that they bring that you don't
like?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
They're really hard to describe sometimes.
So there's like there's likesome sticky rice desserts which
honestly, they don't taste bad,but when you get 20 of them,
like you're gonna be sick.
Like there's no way, I don'tknow why they make so many.
It's really out of love at thesame time.
They could just make like wayless of them and everyone, I
(19:39):
think, would be happier, becausewhat happens is like there's so
much left over and you can'tkeep it.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It'll go bad, it's sticky rice so you feel bad if
you don't eat it yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
So I can't like throw it away right, they just spent
all day making it but also likeI can't humanly finish it, and
so there are certain things likethat or certain fruits.
There's like way more fruitsover there than there are here.
Like just tropical region, theyjust grow a lot of fruits.
Some of them are really goodand some of them aren't.
So Some of them are really goodand some of them aren't.
So when you get like 10 of afruit that you don't
(20:09):
particularly like, or you getfruits that are like already
overripe because they've beenoffered, so this is kind of a
side tangent.
But in our culture where wework, they make offerings to the
ancestors and they do thattwice a month.
So they do that on all theirmajor holidays plus twice a
(20:30):
month, and there's usually fruitoffered, and so in a tropical
climate, like you know, thosefruits ripen pretty quickly
usually and then they're goingto leave it on the altar until
the last possible minute, andusually there's just a lot of it
being offered, particularly onthe holidays, and so you have
like plates and plates andplates of fruit that someone has
to eat eventually.
(20:51):
I did not know that, you knowwhen I went, and so I'd be
getting fruits from my landlord.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Well, there's no fat on fruit, so all the fat belongs
to the Lord right Back toLeviticus.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
There's a rind, I guess, not quite the same, but
yeah, I'm just getting a lot offruit that's like just about to
go bad and just like why?
Why did they give this to me,like I wonder?
Oh, it's because, well, it'sbecause they have so much of it
and it's about to go bad.
And they let it get to thatpoint because it was being
offered.
So you know, there's just a lotof confusion, right, and you're
(21:23):
trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's a bit of a mixed background of religion.
Yeah Right, so there's sometribal animistic features.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Would you say is it an honor?
Shame culture.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah, there's, there's a lot of that Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, and I'm assuming so, because you would
not if I, if I brought a bunchof food, like if I brought two
dozen cookies to your housetoday you would not feel bad
telling me I'm not going to eatall these, thanks for one.
And I wouldn't feel shamed ifyou didn't eat them all.
Yeah, but culturally they mightfeel shamed if you didn't spend
that time with them and didn'teat what they brought.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
When you really become close with people, you
can learn to say no.
And it's basically kind of adance where people offer you
something.
You should say no first.
You shouldn't immediately sayabsolutely I'll have five.
Like you should say oh, no, no,like I already ate, but they're
going to ask again, and thenthat second time or third time
or fourth time you can kind ofdecide do I want one, do I not
(22:17):
want one?
How close are we?
If we're not close, I reallyshould try it.
If we are close, I couldpotentially say like no, it's
all right, but if they keep, ifthey're persistent, then
eventually you're going to haveto say yes.
So yeah, it's a weird ambiguitythat Americans often are really
uncomfortable with.
We like to know are youactually offering or are you not
?
Those are the two binarycategories in our head.
(22:39):
In reality, a lot of othercountries are actually just very
relational.
It's not a well, yes, I'mreally offering.
Oh, no, I'm not really offering.
I just said it to be polite.
There's kind of an in-betweenof like I really am offering.
I would really like you to trysome.
I don't want to make you feelbad, but you know, if you don't
eat it I might be sad, I mightnot Like.
It's just kind of like more soabout the relationship than it
(23:02):
is who eats what.
That's something that I'veactually really appreciated
growing in and getting to knowthe locals, who are all
unbelievers but they really havea high value on other people's
feelings and when they walk intoa room I think immediately they
kind of think about what theirplace is in that room.
Am I the youngest, am I theoldest, am I the student or the
(23:23):
teacher?
And they really like adopt thatrole, whatever it is, and
there's just kind of amindfulness of others that I
think we in America, being soindividualistic, we kind of lack
, because we kind of go into asituation thinking what do I
want to eat and what do I wantto drink and what do I want to
say, and everybody could beeating or drinking something
different, but in our cultureeveryone is always eating and
(23:46):
drinking the same thing.
There's never really a casewhere you order something, I
order something, they getsomething, or we go to a house
and you're drinking that and I'mdrinking this.
Everybody drinks the same thing.
And so I watched as like Iwould go to people's houses and
they'd kind of offer mesomething to drink.
Whatever I pick, they would alsodrink Whatever I choose they
(24:06):
would also eat, Not because theywanted to or you know, not
because they didn't want to.
It was really just a communalexperience.
There's never a time where myfriend starts eating something
and they don't give me some, andthere's never a time now where
I start eating something and Idon't give them some.
It's just kind of likeeverything we do we do together,
(24:28):
and there's something reallysweet about that.
You know, it's not a, it's nota community that believes in the
Lord, but it's a community thatloves each other in a certain
way, or at least has theexpectation to seem like they do
, and so that's something thatI've kind of appreciated about
living in Asia, even myselfbeing an Asian, like I'm an
(24:50):
Asian American, and so I'm notas Asian as them.
So it's weird Like I've becomemore Asian since living there.
It's just an odd experience,but in some ways really sweet to
do that.
And to now, you know, when yousit down to a meal in America,
we know how a meal in Americaworks.
If you sit down to a meal inAsia, it's different.
You know, maybe you sit down toa meal in America, we know how
a meal in America works.
If you sit down to a meal inAsia, it's different.
You know, maybe you're not at atable, you're on a floor.
Maybe you know you don't have aplate, you have a bowl and
(25:12):
there's all these dishes in themiddle and you don't know what
they are.
You know and you're you knowyou're using chopsticks, which
I'm familiar with, but maybe noteverybody is familiar with, but
maybe not everybody is.
And then there's like differentdipping sauces.
The different sauces are fordifferent foods and you're not
supposed to, you know, do this,you're not supposed to do that.
Don't put your chopsticks here,don't put your, you know, your
feet over there.
Whoever's sitting next to therice pot is going to serve the
(25:33):
rice.
Whoever's sitting next to thedrinks needs to make sure that
nobody's cup gets empty.
Like there's just kind ofunspoken rhythm to the way that
people live, and so for me, oneof the biggest encouragements
has been engaging in that rhythmwith them, like learning it,
learning it, and then being ableto do it, and do it
successfully, and then not onlylike be like them, but
(25:55):
distinguish myself from them inthe ways that matter.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
So, in all, the ways that I want to be like them like
that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I can because I know.
Now I know the rules.
It takes a lot of work to learnthe rules, but you can learn
them At the same time.
Once you figure out why peopledo what they do, you want to
figure out the things that youdon't want to do or the things
that you want to do differentlyto to display the glory of
Christ in their culture, it's awhole different story, right?
(26:22):
It's a whole different way ofliving a Christian life in
another culture.
So now you know like.
A small example is like eatingthings that have been offered to
the ancestors.
It's a real thing for us.
You know, it's something youread about in the Bible.
Do we eat things that have beensacrificed to idols?
But in America it's not reallyan issue because we don't have
(26:43):
that kind of visual symbol ofidols and food being offered to
them.
In this culture they do, andso-.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Wow, I didn't even think about that until you just
made that connection.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's certainly not something that I think I've ever
anyway I know I've neverencountered.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And it's so helpful that Paul talks about it,
because now we have a frameworkfor it.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Now we know why.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Now we know why, yeah .
So for us to read thosepassages and to think you know,
is it helpful for me to eatthese things?
What am I saying by eatingthese things?
What am I not saying by eatingthese things?
You know, that really takestime to figure out.
Every culture is different.
And then, when I'm withChristians in this country, do I
eat these things in front ofthem, do I offer them some?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I mean, there's so much context in the New
Testament for this conversationand, I think, a lot of us just
kind of skip through becauseit's totally irrelevant in our
culture.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, so kind of the point that I was slowly moving
towards is that once youunderstand their rituals and
what parts of the ritual meanwhat, then you know what you can
participate in and what you canabstain from, and when you do
abstain you can explain why tothe locals, to your friends.
So, for example, like myfriends will have to make a lot
(27:54):
of things for their offerings.
You know there's likedecorations to make, there's
certain dishes to make.
I will help them in like makingstuff if they ask me.
I won't put it on the altar, Iwon't be the one to do that, and
I won't light the incense and Iwon't they kind of like hold
their hands in a certain way andbow to the altars.
So those things I've learnednow like I don't want to do and
(28:17):
I can explain why to my friendsin their language.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And you have.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And they understand yes, you have it.
So you've had theseconversations.
You've explained why, yes, canyou tell us, yeah, I mean, it's
actually quite simple.
I think there's an element ofour missionary minds that tends
to overcomplicate things, butreally, this is the thing.
These are the conversationsthat you have with good friends.
They're not the conversationsyou have with strangers on the
street, and so there's a lot ofrelational context there where
(28:43):
they already know that you lovethem, they already know that you
care for them.
This is not your first mealtogether, and so it's actually
quite easy to say hey, I really,you know, appreciate your
culture, but I can't do thispart because I believe
da-da-da-da-da, so like I can'tput these things on the altar
because I'm a Christian and Ionly worship God and I cannot
(29:04):
worship anything else.
So I'll help you, but I'm notgoing to, like, put it on the
thing.
And they're very gracious, youknow, they're totally
understanding in that way.
They're not offended.
I think they're open to hearingwhy I think differently or why
certain things I won't do butother things I will.
You know, there's clearlythought behind it of why I'm
choosing to say no, because Irarely say no.
(29:25):
I almost always say yes, do youwant to try this?
Yes, do you want to go here?
Yes, do you want to do this?
Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So when I say no, my friends are really like, oh, she
has a reason, this is a lineshe's not going to cross.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Right, exactly.
And so I wouldn't say they'regreat theological lessons,
because so much context isrequired even for understanding
those things, but they're kindof foundational.
For hey, this girl is differentand that is necessary for us in
a lot of ways.
In what we call pre-evangelismis, we are shining the light of
Christ through our words andactions.
(29:56):
Before we can clearly andverbally articulate the gospel,
we're still preaching the gospelin other ways.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I don't think a lot of us realize this how many
years it can take to culture,train language, train Language.
Training sometimes can belearning more than one language.
Right, because there can be amajority language, another trade
language, there can be aminority language, different
dialects.
You have been on site-ish fortwo and a half years, but you
(30:23):
are not yet in the people group,the specific group that you are
preparing to go to.
So what we're sharing today isbeautiful stories of your
experience in the region, buttell us about what's coming up.
So first fruit, what's happenedin the two and a half years
just in the region, and thenwhat's going to happen next as
(30:46):
you prayerfully go in.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
I actually think these twoquestions are connected in some
ways.
I think they inform each other,because if people ask me, like
what kind of fruit have you seen?
It's sometimes difficult toanswer because what is fruit
Like, what is fruit of the work?
Ultimately, I want to say it'sseeing people come to Christ.
(31:09):
It's seeing people believe inChrist.
Have I seen that in two and ahalf years?
No, I think two and a halfyears is really the kind of ramp
up to just starting work.
If we're talking about the truework, I want to say that's
proclamation of the gospel.
To get to a point where you canproclaim the gospel, there's a
(31:30):
lot of work involved inunderstanding the people and
understanding the way that theylive, the way that they interact
.
Like you want to be respectful,you have to learn how to be
respectful.
You want to be kind, you haveto learn how to be kind all over
again, not to mention language.
Language is just a whole notherbeast.
Like how do you say something,knowing how they're going to
(31:51):
interpret it?
Like you can't actually justsay God, they have so many words
for God.
What do each one of those meanand what kind of baggage do
those words come with?
And what word am I going to usefor our God, for the one true
God?
And then how do I tell themthat that God is different from
any other God that they've everheard of?
All of that takes an incredibleamount of time and effort.
(32:11):
So I would say a lot of thefruit in the last two and a half
years, from my perspective, hasbeen, I guess, what you would
call like seed planting, justkind of spending my time and my
efforts in a way that otherpeople can see that I'm
different and that thosedifferences relate to me being
Christian.
And so I have had a lot offriends say things like hey,
(32:33):
I've never had a friend like you.
You know, I've never actuallyhad a friend that like sat and
like listened to me so intentlyand like thought about me when I
wasn't there and cared and thenchecked in again to see how
that thing went that I told themabout.
Like they don't really do thatwith friends in their culture.
They more so do it with family.
And so to have a friend,especially in kind of the weird
(32:55):
position that I'm in where Idon't know anybody and I need
help, and so we really buildbonds, kind of through very
practical means, like, hey, Idon't know how to buy vegetables
, can you help me buy vegetables?
And they've seen me go fromthat to like, hey, let's talk
about you know our spiritualbeliefs.
It's kind of a special bondthat you make with people who
(33:16):
are able to go with you on thatjourney and then they're like
really seeing you.
They're really seeing that youlive by the things that you say,
you do or you don't.
You know the ways that I failsometimes to be, to be kind or
to be loving, and I apologize,you know that's they've never
seen anybody do that ever.
That's strange, it's reallyreally strange.
(33:38):
And so there's just ways whereI'm different that they notice
and they pick up on and thenthey respond to kind of in their
human way.
So that's really sweet.
And then there have been acouple friends that I've
actually been able to walkthrough the biblical narrative
with, and those are pretty longstories, but I would say overall
, to kind of sum it up, like itis amazing to watch unbelievers
(34:00):
who have never seen a Bible hearthese stories for the first
time, having no idea wherethey're going.
I mean, as a Christian who grewup in a church, like I cannot
fathom not knowing how thisBible story is going to end,
like I don't know what I wouldthink if someone started telling
me this story of Moses and Ihad no idea where this is going.
(34:20):
You know, like he, he does whatand then he goes where and his
mom says what, like why you know?
It's just really really odd.
But at the same time, likethere's kind of a wonder and
excitement in unbelievershearing these stories and they
recognize the depth in them,even though they don't believe
in God.
They recognize the stories assomething that is true, as
something that is enlighteningin some way in their kind of
(34:44):
limited, unbelieving way.
Yeah, so that's been a realprivilege for me.
And then seeing kind of likethey now have a foundation for
us to discuss further.
So now we kind of can dig intothose spiritual topics with a
lot more grit because they havecontext for who Jesus is.
So when I talk about thingslike no, I won't do that or I
(35:05):
can't do that because of this,there's way more for us to go
into.
Because we've talked about thegolden calf, we've talked about
the 10 commandments, we'vetalked about Jesus and who he is
, and how he is good and how heis worthy and how I'm not living
a life of rules.
I'm living a life of grace andmercy, and those things were not
(35:26):
words that existed previouslyin their vocabulary.
It's just groundwork, right,it's just groundwork, but I'm
hopeful for that and I'm justamazed that God can do that in
two and a half years, that youcould go from not knowing how to
say hello to being able to havethese kinds of relationships
with people.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
So, as we're talking about fruit, it is something
that will take a really longtime, kind of our ultimate goal
in this.
As you mentioned already andsummarized really well, some of
these unreached people groupsthat are left are difficult to
get to for a reason.
I mean, people like to saythey're last for a reason, and
so a lot of these groups willrequire learning two languages.
(36:05):
You'll have to learn thenational language and then the
language of the specific peoplegroup, and that is our case as
well.
So the people group we want towork with, they speak the
language other than the nationallanguage.
It's not actually related atall, which is unfortunate.
It's a different languagefamily and so we're kind of, in
a lot of ways, starting fromscratch, but not quite, because
there's a lot of culturaloverlap this people group and
(36:27):
the majority group.
So there are categories forwords that we already have now
because we've learned thenational language, but the words
themselves are completelydifferent, and so that will be
kind of another journey.
And then, besides the languageand culture acquisition, the
biggest challenge I think in thenext steps will be kind of
another journey.
And then, besides the languageand culture acquisition, the
biggest challenge I think in thenext steps will be our identity
(36:48):
and our access to the region.
So part of the reason thatwe're talking in these kind of
general terms is because thegovernment of the country we
work in does not allowmissionaries to work there, and
so it's not legal to be amissionary, particularly in
these sensitive areas.
So you can kind of get awaywith it in the big cities.
Honestly, like they don'treally.
(37:08):
They kind of know and theydon't mind.
When you're talking about thesecountryside areas where no
foreigners live, where nomajority people live, they're
pretty sensitive.
And so for us to say, hey,we're American and we want to go
there, we need to have a really, really clear and solid reason
for it.
And when we go and we livethere, we will be the first
(37:30):
foreigners to ever do so.
So we really need to be able toexplain why we're there to
tourists.
They're friendly to peoplecoming through.
But if you want to live there,it's so strange and it's so
weird that you're going to haveto have a really creative
platform to be able to be there.
(37:52):
And I say platform not as a kindof like cover, like I don't say
cover, because we want to bepeople of integrity.
So everything that we say we'redoing, we have to actually be
doing.
If I go to a certain area and Isay I want to dig a, well, I
have to be people of integrity.
So everything that we say we'redoing, we have to actually be
doing.
If I go to a certain area and Isay I want to dig a, well, I
have to actually dig that well,you know, we are people of our
word.
Everything that we do in thenext years to come will partly
(38:14):
be so that we can just existthere, like not just so that we
can, you know, preach the gospel.
But you know, preaching thegospel, but preaching the gospel
takes time.
Learning language takes time.
To get that time, we have tohave a reason to be there, which
usually is running a business.
So basically, we're going tohave to set up a business out of
scratch and we're not businesspeople.
So you can imagine that's kindof a long journey for us and
(38:38):
then, along the way, it's reallyall in God's hands.
I'm a very logical person.
I'm a very logical person.
I'm a very analytical person.
I like to make plans.
If you put this plan on paper,I'm not sure there's a logical
person out there that wouldn'tsay what a terrible plan.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
It doesn't pencil Like it doesn't add up in no
ways.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I can see a thousand ways where this is going to fall
apart and this is going to gowrong.
It would not work in like somany ways, and the only reason
we do it is because we have hopein God who can do all things,
and so that's been a personaljourney.
For me is like seeing my faithin God needing to increase as we
do this because just thelogical part of me is like
(39:15):
that's not going to work andthat's not going to work and
that's not going to happen andthis is a bad idea.
But seeing God kind of overcomethose barriers in my own heart
and obstacles and seeing him dothings and bring me into
people's lives in ways that Idid not think I was a good fit
for or ways that I did not thinkI was equipped for, has been
really encouraging personally.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
This has been so cool , I'm so glad you came in.
It was a layup when theopportunity came to have you on
the pod and to kick off a newseason and a new year.
What a special experience.
Maya, you've got a beautifulstory.
You've got a beautiful heart.
We're thrilled to be a smallpart of it.
And just whatever God's got onyour heart right now, would you
(39:54):
just turn that loose on all ofus?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah for sure.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we love youbecause you first loved us.
We are grateful for all theways that you provide for us,
all the ways that we are able tosee and know, and all the ways
that we don't even know or can'timagine.
God, we trust that you are themaker of this world, that you
are the maker of all peoples.
(40:17):
We can't fathom how deep yourlove is for the people that
we're trying to reach, but weknow that you have all things
for their good and in your plan,god, you will use all things
for the good of your childrenand for your own glory.
God, I pray for our team andour plans.
(40:39):
God, I pray that you would usewhat little we have to offer,
that you would make much of it.
God, we know that we havereceived all good things from
you, that you are the source,and we seek to give those things
back to you.
God, we pray that you wouldhelp us with that.
Help us to love you more deeply, to be more faithful to you and
(41:02):
to the work that you haveprovided for us.
God, I pray for the listeners ofthis podcast and for the makers
of it as well.
God, I pray that you wouldencourage their hearts in the
work that you are doing acrossthe world.
God, I pray that you would usethis podcast and use these
stories for your sake and foryour plans.
I don't know who's listening tothis, or where, or when.
(41:25):
God, I know that it's at theperfect time because you have
ordained it, and I pray that youwould continue to work out your
ways and your wisdom in thehearts of those who are
listening.
God, we seek to serve you welland we seek to respond to the
grace that we have been given.
(41:46):
I trust that your Holy Spiritwill do those good things.
We pray all these things inyour precious name, amen.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
And amen.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
(42:15):
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
you want to connect with us,find us on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven,
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey friends, thank you so much for listening to the
Unreached podcast.
Today we kick off season four.
Dustin has a special guest fromthe front lines of Southeast
Asia, so let's jump into thestudio and hear all that God has
for us today.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached
podcast Dustin Elliott here yourhost.
Welcome back to the UnreachedPodcast, dustin Elliott here
your host.
First up today kicking off ournew season is a friend of ours
that we've got to know over thelast year.
Her name is Maya.
Maya is serving in SoutheastAsia.
She is a wonderful 28-year-oldsingle woman and, as you may
(01:27):
know, our most popular guestever is also a 28-year-old
single woman, although she'sserving in the Middle East.
So, maya, thank you so much forbeing here with us today and
welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Of course.
So we're just going to have acandid conversation today.
I think listeners would justlove to hear your story.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I know your listeners can't see me, but usually
people can.
I am Chinese American and sothat means that my parents were
not born in America, but theywere actually born in Hong Kong.
My dad came to the States as afreshman in college by himself.
When he came he really came notknowing anybody, not knowing
(02:04):
anything.
He spoke some English becausethey teach it in Hong Kong, but
he had no connections, nofriends here.
He's the youngest of six andwhen he left Hong Kong my
grandma basically gave him aplatinum necklace at the time,
like the most expensive thingshe had, and she said just do
your best and if it doesn't workout you can sell this necklace
(02:24):
and come home and you'll have ahome here.
And so that was kind of hisstory and I think, weirdly, in a
lot of ways my life hasmirrored his now because I ended
up moving to another countrynot knowing anything or anyone,
and I understand him a littlebit better, I think, because of
that.
But anyways, he came to theStates and then a lot of like
(02:45):
college campuses will have somekind of outreach ministry,
especially for internationalstudents or for people who speak
a certain language, and so hecame to a university that had a
group of Hong Kong studentsalready there and they kind of
had this ministry where theywould pick you up and get you
set up and help you out.
They kind of had this ministrywhere they would pick you up and
(03:06):
get you set up and help you out, and so that was kind of.
His first friend group was abunch of Christians in America
and he ended up becoming aChristian.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
How bad.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I wish that story was told more often.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's anotherlong story, I think, of how God
moves peoples in the world toaccomplish his plans.
But yeah, that was his story.
And then my mom came in highschool with her family.
So her dad left Hong Kong whenshe was very, very young so
young in fact that she doesn'tremember him at all and then he
(03:36):
came and did the kind of classicimmigrant thing of working in
America and sending money home.
So my grandma on my mom's sidehad the four kids in Hong Kong
and then when my mom was 13, mygrandpa saved up enough money to
bring the whole family over,and so my mom's kind of first
memory of having an earthlyfather was when she was 13.
(03:57):
And she came to America andkind of met him in a weird way,
and so that was a little bit ofher story and her testimony as
well, because she realized thateverybody was talking about God
as a father in her life, likethe people who were Christians
around her, and she had notreally experienced having a
father, and so that kind ofpiqued her initial curiosity
(04:21):
about who God was and like whathe is.
You know, they ended up meetingand getting married later and
then they moved to Californiawhere they raised my older
brother and me, and so they wereboth Christians at that point
and they were very involved inlocal church.
They brought up me in theknowledge of the gospel in a
(04:45):
body of really loving believersChinese believers out in
California.
I think it was a really goodchurch.
I think I learned everythingthat you would want a kid in the
church to learn, exceptmissions.
Maybe I don't say that as acriticism of the church I grew
up in, but as a reality, I think, of the Asian American church
(05:08):
as a whole.
There are certain topics thatare almost considered off limits
.
So youth pastors in particular,if they are going to preach
about giving up your career andgiving up, you know, your stable
income to go overseas and be amissionary, that would be pretty
controversial in an AsianAmerican church, I think.
In general Not always, notalways, but that was kind of my
(05:31):
experience and so what welearned was the Bible, but kind
of how I took it in my own wayas a kid was very much like.
Being a Christian means that yougrow up and go to a four year
college and then you go tograduate school and then you
work hard and you take care ofyour family and you take care of
your parents, and that's allpart of being a good Christian,
(05:53):
and it's not that those thingsgo against Christianity in any
way.
They're harmonious.
But at the same time, reallythe point of Christianity is not
that life, that comfortablesecurity that we in America tend
to really idolize in a lot ofways, particularly immigrant
families, because they haveworked so hard for it, because
they have already sacrificed somuch for it.
(06:13):
And so when I got to college Iwent to a college that wasn't
close enough to the church Igrew up in to attend any longer,
and so I found a new church,and this new church was
different.
It was different from my homechurch.
This new church was a lot morefocused on missions.
This new church, I think, had agreater understanding of the
(06:36):
Great Commission as it appliesto kind of God's greater
redemptive historical plan forthe nations.
And so in college I startedgoing on some short-term mission
trips.
I started hearing more frommissionaries.
I started hearing basicallywhat an unreached people group
is and that these groups exist.
Previously I really had no ideathat these groups existed.
(06:59):
I knew that there were peopleout there that weren't Christian
.
I knew that there werecountries where there weren't a
lot of Christians.
But I did not ever reallyconsider the fact that someone
could not have any access to thegospel, meaning there wouldn't
be a church in their language,there wouldn't be a Bible
translation that they could read.
So even if they wanted to, evenif there was somebody that had
(07:21):
some curiosity about God in thatpeople group, they wouldn't be
able to understand and theywouldn't be able to hear.
And I think that really moved me, it really convicted me hearing
how many groups are left, howbig some of these groups are,
and also realizing that the taskthat God gave to the church,
the Great Commission, was givento me as well, that it wasn't
(07:46):
some kind of side project thatsome missionaries in the church
who are really passionate aboutwell, it's kind of their thing
right, like I don't do that, butI'm glad somebody does so like
good for them.
But realizing that everyChristian has a part to play in
it and trying to figure out atthat point you know, freshman
sophomore in college like whatis my part and at the beginning
that part was really just beinga good sender I felt like I was
(08:11):
not the person to be amissionary, I was not the person
to go overseas, particularlywith my family background.
I kind of felt like, well, Ijust think it's not me because
of this or because of that, orbecause my parents won't like it
, because they've already donethis, so I could be here.
You know, I just don't thinkI'm the right person.
And so I realized at this point,looking back, that a lot of
(08:32):
those things were kind of justexcuses for my own fears, even
as there are real reasons andreal, real things in my life.
I was also just afraid.
I was afraid to go, I wasafraid of what would happen, I
was afraid of what, you know, myfamily would say, or, yeah, I
was afraid of the financialinstability of it all at the
same time.
And so it took a lot of years,I think of God working on my
(08:54):
heart and the spirit moving forme to come to a place where I
could really let some of thosethings go and lay them down
before the Lord.
Those things go and lay themdown before the Lord.
Even, as you know, I thinkwe're very quick to say, yeah,
god, you could have everything.
You could have my life, youcould have my plans, you could
have this, you could have that,but in our hearts, we know what
we're not putting before him, weknow what we're keeping from
(09:15):
him, and I think there was a lotof those things that took me a
lot of time and thankfully, alot of other faithful older
believers in my life were alsoworking on that as well and kind
of patiently discipling me andleading me and guiding me.
So, looking back, it was reallya lot of different things over
a long period of time.
(09:36):
I was not the kid that kind ofjumped up and said yes, I want
to be a missionary.
I was not brave enough, but itwas really a gradual process.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
What happened for you to go?
Like that's my calling, likethat's the role I want to play.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
To be honest, I still am not sure.
Like every day I wake up andI'm like how did I get here?
How did I end up here?
There really is like so manypeople along the way, so many
people in that, which isencouraging, I think, to
mobilizers as well, like if youtalk to someone and it doesn't
seem like they're responding,like maybe you're just the
(10:12):
second of a hundred people to dothat work.
But yeah, there were disciplersin college, particularly at my
church, at my local church, thatwere really focused on just my
maturity in the Lord.
So not necessarily, hey, let'sget you on a plane, but hey,
let's help you to understandmore deeply who you are in the
Lord and live that out, and Ithink that is a huge piece of
(10:34):
this.
It's not really like our goalis to get more butts in seats on
planes.
Really, what we want to do issee people fulfill and be
faithful to the task.
More specifically, with regardto missions, I'm more so talked
with a certain group of reallyconvicted older missionaries,
that kind of work with differentorganizations.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
That were being supported by your church, or did
they have them come through?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
They had connections.
So people at my church kind ofknew people who knew people, and
so either people would come toour church and speak or we would
go on short-term missions to,you know, support other people
or participate in differentprograms.
And so, yeah, it was really akind of gradual pieces coming
together.
Number one, like what are youliving for?
(11:20):
So that was a big question forme.
Like I did not know what I wasliving for.
I had never really made anymajor decisions up until that
point.
College is really when you kindof start doing that, and so I
had never sat down and thoughtthrough, like hey, I'm giving
God my Sundays, my Friday nights, my Wednesday nights, but what
about the rest of the week?
What am I doing actually withmy overall life plan for him?
(11:41):
Because my life doesn't belongto me.
So that was kind of.
The first major lesson for mewas realizing that all my
moments belong to the Lord, notjust the ones I choose to give.
And then the next thing waswhat is God doing?
So if I'm giving my life to theLord, I want to be about what
he's about.
So what is he about Besides mywell-being and my good?
What is he about, besides mywell-being and my good, like God
(12:04):
is doing something much bigger.
God has laid out this plan inscripture, from Genesis to
Revelation, of what he is doingin the world.
That it's difficult to grasp, Ithink, as a kid who's listening
to sermons on Sunday.
It's a lot easier if someonesits you down and kind of walks
you through it and you can seethe thread and you can kind of
(12:27):
follow from beginning to endwhere it started, where it was
and then where it's going to end.
And so for me, seeing that Godcreated us, he created all the
nations at the Tower of Babel,but at the same time he has
always promised to bring themall to himself.
But at the same time he hasalways promised to bring them
all to himself.
And we see that with Abraham'sstory, we see that in Psalms, we
(12:48):
see that in the New Testamentwith Christ, and then we see it
very clearly in Revelation atthe vision of heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
This may be a hard question to answer, but it's on
my heart so I'm going to ask it.
Is it conceivably easier foryou to go because your roots
aren't as deep in America as asecond generation daughter of
(13:16):
immigrants to America?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's a good question.
I don't know, maybe I don'tknow if it's easier to go.
I would say it is easier tostay there, and I think I've
seen that play out in a lot ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well said.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Not necessarily in the sense of like I'm.
You know, I'm one of them inthe place where I work, because
I'm not and I never will beaccepted fully as a local, but
at the same time there are thesemulticultural parts of my
background that I think makeadapting to new situations
(13:51):
easier.
So I'm kind of used to sittingdown and not being familiar with
the food and eating it.
Anyways, I'm kind of used to.
You know, I talk one way withthese people and I talk another
way with those other people.
I think that's something that alot of people in America are
actually very used to.
We all do it to a certaindegree.
(14:11):
Right, if you're talking toyour teacher versus if you're
talking to your buddy at school.
But when you grow up in afamily that's not white in
America, I think you kind of getthat, you get the reps in.
You do that a lot more thanmost people might think to do.
And then, with language andculture as well, there are these
big categories of culture thatare really difficult to explain
(14:35):
if you've not experienced them.
And I think for me thosecategories already existed,
because my family is differentand Chinese people are different
from American people, and sothere's kind of a wider
perspective to start from as afoundation when you're trying to
learn something else.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Well, okay, so let's go where you've moved, let's go
spend a little time in SoutheastAsia.
Yeah, you, as you noted for thelisteners are not a blonde,
white woman, and so when theymeet you, I wonder, I just
wonder, what language do theyexpect you to speak?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
They expect me to speak their language.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right Are you fluent?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I'm not fluent.
There are about like sevenlevels of language that we use
to assess, okay, and I testedlike level six.
Okay, so you're very, veryclose, sort of sort of.
It's kind of like an upsidedown triangle where the levels
get increasingly bigger and thedifference between the levels
(15:34):
gets increasingly bigger.
I don't want to make this supertechnical.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Would we say you're conversational?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I would say I'm much more than conversational.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Okay, good.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, which I don't say to brag, I say to kind of
encourage other workers to getthere, to get to a place where
you could have a worldviewconversation.
You need to be way more thanconversational.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So now you're on site in Southeast Asia.
You've lived there for severalyears.
Two and a half, two and a halfyears.
Why don't you tell us a coupleof stories?
Who have you met?
What's been most surprising?
What's been most surprising,what's been most challenging and
like, what's been soencouraging?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
There is so many things that happen in your
transition to a new place it'salmost hard to like remember
them all just because every dayis eventful.
I think my initial impressionwas that it's just like loud and
hot.
I think, like most countriesare that way, they're loud and
hot and partly weather, butpartly people as well.
Like, the people are pretty hotheaded and very direct and very
(16:40):
forward in ways that we're notused to here in America, and so,
socially speaking, that took mequite a while to get used to.
Just people kind of coming upto you, starting to talk really
fast, no introduction necessary.
They'll just kind of tell youthings that you'd never asked
them or, you know, expect you tokind of interact with them as
(17:03):
if you've already been goodfriends.
I mean, it's really warm, it'sa warm culture, and so I've
grown to appreciate it.
But at the beginning it's prettyoverwhelming, I would say, to
have people do that, especiallywhen they think that I'm a local
because I look like them and sothere's just a lot of confusion
.
I think, looking back, thefirst months and years are just
(17:23):
kind of overall prettydisorienting because everything
is happening and you don't knowwhy things are happening.
So people are saying things,you don't know why they said
that, or they're doing thingsand you don't know why they did
that and you're trying to kindof figure out this puzzle that's
coming together.
So it is, looking back, such aprivilege to do that because you
really get to walk into a wholenother world that God has
(17:44):
created and a whole notherpeople and to understand them
now and to know, oh, that's whythey do that, they do that out
of respect for me.
That's really special.
I think not everybody gets tohave those kinds of experiences.
So there are a lot of timeswhere, like people that I'm
trying to become friends withare doing things or saying
things that are hard for me totake, are hard for me to hear,
(18:07):
because that's not what we do.
And yet now, looking back, Irealize like they were trying to
show me love, they're trying toshow me care, so some really
small things.
Like people really like tobring you things, they really
like to express theirappreciation through gifts, and
so a lot of the time, likethey'll just show up.
They'll just show up, not kindof checking, if you're home it
(18:32):
doesn't really matter, becauseif you're not home they'll just
go, but if you are home, thenthey'll come in, and so people
would kind of bring me fruitsthat I don't like to eat or
other things, and then sit andlook at you and wait for you to
eat it and tell them how greatit is.
Yeah.
Or even I would get a call andit would be a friend basically
being like, hey, are you home?
And I'd be like, yeah, I amhome, like do you want to hang
out?
And they'd be like, yeah, I'mdownstairs.
(18:52):
And I'm like, okay, cool, Iguess I'll get dressed.
I guess, yeah, I guess I'll getdressed and then go down and
they've got like snacks for meor food for me or something, and
usually they're not things thatI'm used to eating.
They're not not things that Inecessarily like, right, and
there's often way too much of it, like it's not a human size
portion.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Can you give us some examples For 10 people?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, tell us what the foods are.
Come on, we're all dying toknow.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What are the things that they bring that you don't
like?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
They're really hard to describe sometimes.
So there's like there's likesome sticky rice desserts which
honestly, they don't taste bad,but when you get 20 of them,
like you're gonna be sick.
Like there's no way, I don'tknow why they make so many.
It's really out of love at thesame time.
They could just make like wayless of them and everyone, I
(19:39):
think, would be happier, becausewhat happens is like there's so
much left over and you can'tkeep it.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It'll go bad, it's sticky rice so you feel bad if
you don't eat it yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
So I can't like throw it away right, they just spent
all day making it but also likeI can't humanly finish it, and
so there are certain things likethat or certain fruits.
There's like way more fruitsover there than there are here.
Like just tropical region, theyjust grow a lot of fruits.
Some of them are really goodand some of them aren't.
So Some of them are really goodand some of them aren't.
So when you get like 10 of afruit that you don't
(20:09):
particularly like, or you getfruits that are like already
overripe because they've beenoffered, so this is kind of a
side tangent.
But in our culture where wework, they make offerings to the
ancestors and they do thattwice a month.
So they do that on all theirmajor holidays plus twice a
(20:30):
month, and there's usually fruitoffered, and so in a tropical
climate, like you know, thosefruits ripen pretty quickly
usually and then they're goingto leave it on the altar until
the last possible minute, andusually there's just a lot of it
being offered, particularly onthe holidays, and so you have
like plates and plates andplates of fruit that someone has
to eat eventually.
(20:51):
I did not know that, you knowwhen I went, and so I'd be
getting fruits from my landlord.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Well, there's no fat on fruit, so all the fat belongs
to the Lord right Back toLeviticus.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
There's a rind, I guess, not quite the same, but
yeah, I'm just getting a lot offruit that's like just about to
go bad and just like why?
Why did they give this to me,like I wonder?
Oh, it's because, well, it'sbecause they have so much of it
and it's about to go bad.
And they let it get to thatpoint because it was being
offered.
So you know, there's just a lotof confusion, right, and you're
(21:23):
trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's a bit of a mixed background of religion.
Yeah Right, so there's sometribal animistic features.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Would you say is it an honor?
Shame culture.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yeah, there's, there's a lot of that Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, and I'm assuming so, because you would
not if I, if I brought a bunchof food, like if I brought two
dozen cookies to your housetoday you would not feel bad
telling me I'm not going to eatall these, thanks for one.
And I wouldn't feel shamed ifyou didn't eat them all.
Yeah, but culturally they mightfeel shamed if you didn't spend
that time with them and didn'teat what they brought.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
When you really become close with people, you
can learn to say no.
And it's basically kind of adance where people offer you
something.
You should say no first.
You shouldn't immediately sayabsolutely I'll have five.
Like you should say oh, no, no,like I already ate, but they're
going to ask again, and thenthat second time or third time
or fourth time you can kind ofdecide do I want one, do I not
(22:17):
want one?
How close are we?
If we're not close, I reallyshould try it.
If we are close, I couldpotentially say like no, it's
all right, but if they keep, ifthey're persistent, then
eventually you're going to haveto say yes.
So yeah, it's a weird ambiguitythat Americans often are really
uncomfortable with.
We like to know are youactually offering or are you not
?
Those are the two binarycategories in our head.
(22:39):
In reality, a lot of othercountries are actually just very
relational.
It's not a well, yes, I'mreally offering.
Oh, no, I'm not really offering.
I just said it to be polite.
There's kind of an in-betweenof like I really am offering.
I would really like you to trysome.
I don't want to make you feelbad, but you know, if you don't
eat it I might be sad, I mightnot Like.
It's just kind of like more soabout the relationship than it
(23:02):
is who eats what.
That's something that I'veactually really appreciated
growing in and getting to knowthe locals, who are all
unbelievers but they really havea high value on other people's
feelings and when they walk intoa room I think immediately they
kind of think about what theirplace is in that room.
Am I the youngest, am I theoldest, am I the student or the
(23:23):
teacher?
And they really like adopt thatrole, whatever it is, and
there's just kind of amindfulness of others that I
think we in America, being soindividualistic, we kind of lack
, because we kind of go into asituation thinking what do I
want to eat and what do I wantto drink and what do I want to
say, and everybody could beeating or drinking something
different, but in our cultureeveryone is always eating and
(23:46):
drinking the same thing.
There's never really a casewhere you order something, I
order something, they getsomething, or we go to a house
and you're drinking that and I'mdrinking this.
Everybody drinks the same thing.
And so I watched as like Iwould go to people's houses and
they'd kind of offer mesomething to drink.
Whatever I pick, they would alsodrink Whatever I choose they
(24:06):
would also eat, Not because theywanted to or you know, not
because they didn't want to.
It was really just a communalexperience.
There's never a time where myfriend starts eating something
and they don't give me some, andthere's never a time now where
I start eating something and Idon't give them some.
It's just kind of likeeverything we do we do together,
(24:28):
and there's something reallysweet about that.
You know, it's not a, it's nota community that believes in the
Lord, but it's a community thatloves each other in a certain
way, or at least has theexpectation to seem like they do
, and so that's something thatI've kind of appreciated about
living in Asia, even myselfbeing an Asian, like I'm an
(24:50):
Asian American, and so I'm notas Asian as them.
So it's weird Like I've becomemore Asian since living there.
It's just an odd experience,but in some ways really sweet to
do that.
And to now, you know, when yousit down to a meal in America,
we know how a meal in Americaworks.
If you sit down to a meal inAsia, it's different.
You know, maybe you sit down toa meal in America, we know how
a meal in America works.
If you sit down to a meal inAsia, it's different.
You know, maybe you're not at atable, you're on a floor.
Maybe you know you don't have aplate, you have a bowl and
(25:12):
there's all these dishes in themiddle and you don't know what
they are.
You know and you're you knowyou're using chopsticks, which
I'm familiar with, but maybe noteverybody is familiar with, but
maybe not everybody is.
And then there's like differentdipping sauces.
The different sauces are fordifferent foods and you're not
supposed to, you know, do this,you're not supposed to do that.
Don't put your chopsticks here,don't put your, you know, your
feet over there.
Whoever's sitting next to therice pot is going to serve the
(25:33):
rice.
Whoever's sitting next to thedrinks needs to make sure that
nobody's cup gets empty.
Like there's just kind ofunspoken rhythm to the way that
people live, and so for me, oneof the biggest encouragements
has been engaging in that rhythmwith them, like learning it,
learning it, and then being ableto do it, and do it
successfully, and then not onlylike be like them, but
(25:55):
distinguish myself from them inthe ways that matter.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
So, in all, the ways that I want to be like them like
that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I can because I know.
Now I know the rules.
It takes a lot of work to learnthe rules, but you can learn
them At the same time.
Once you figure out why peopledo what they do, you want to
figure out the things that youdon't want to do or the things
that you want to do differentlyto to display the glory of
Christ in their culture, it's awhole different story, right?
(26:22):
It's a whole different way ofliving a Christian life in
another culture.
So now you know like.
A small example is like eatingthings that have been offered to
the ancestors.
It's a real thing for us.
You know, it's something youread about in the Bible.
Do we eat things that have beensacrificed to idols?
But in America it's not reallyan issue because we don't have
(26:43):
that kind of visual symbol ofidols and food being offered to
them.
In this culture they do, andso-.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Wow, I didn't even think about that until you just
made that connection.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's certainly not something that I think I've ever
anyway I know I've neverencountered.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
And it's so helpful that Paul talks about it,
because now we have a frameworkfor it.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Now we know why.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Now we know why, yeah .
So for us to read thosepassages and to think you know,
is it helpful for me to eatthese things?
What am I saying by eatingthese things?
What am I not saying by eatingthese things?
You know, that really takestime to figure out.
Every culture is different.
And then, when I'm withChristians in this country, do I
eat these things in front ofthem, do I offer them some?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I mean, there's so much context in the New
Testament for this conversationand, I think, a lot of us just
kind of skip through becauseit's totally irrelevant in our
culture.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, so kind of the point that I was slowly moving
towards is that once youunderstand their rituals and
what parts of the ritual meanwhat, then you know what you can
participate in and what you canabstain from, and when you do
abstain you can explain why tothe locals, to your friends.
So, for example, like myfriends will have to make a lot
(27:54):
of things for their offerings.
You know there's likedecorations to make, there's
certain dishes to make.
I will help them in like makingstuff if they ask me.
I won't put it on the altar, Iwon't be the one to do that, and
I won't light the incense and Iwon't they kind of like hold
their hands in a certain way andbow to the altars.
So those things I've learnednow like I don't want to do and
(28:17):
I can explain why to my friendsin their language.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And you have.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And they understand yes, you have it.
So you've had theseconversations.
You've explained why, yes, canyou tell us, yeah, I mean, it's
actually quite simple.
I think there's an element ofour missionary minds that tends
to overcomplicate things, butreally, this is the thing.
These are the conversationsthat you have with good friends.
They're not the conversationsyou have with strangers on the
street, and so there's a lot ofrelational context there where
(28:43):
they already know that you lovethem, they already know that you
care for them.
This is not your first mealtogether, and so it's actually
quite easy to say hey, I really,you know, appreciate your
culture, but I can't do thispart because I believe
da-da-da-da-da, so like I can'tput these things on the altar
because I'm a Christian and Ionly worship God and I cannot
(29:04):
worship anything else.
So I'll help you, but I'm notgoing to, like, put it on the
thing.
And they're very gracious, youknow, they're totally
understanding in that way.
They're not offended.
I think they're open to hearingwhy I think differently or why
certain things I won't do butother things I will.
You know, there's clearlythought behind it of why I'm
choosing to say no, because Irarely say no.
(29:25):
I almost always say yes, do youwant to try this?
Yes, do you want to go here?
Yes, do you want to do this?
Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So when I say no, my friends are really like, oh, she
has a reason, this is a lineshe's not going to cross.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Right, exactly.
And so I wouldn't say they'regreat theological lessons,
because so much context isrequired even for understanding
those things, but they're kindof foundational.
For hey, this girl is differentand that is necessary for us in
a lot of ways.
In what we call pre-evangelismis, we are shining the light of
Christ through our words andactions.
(29:56):
Before we can clearly andverbally articulate the gospel,
we're still preaching the gospelin other ways.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I don't think a lot of us realize this how many
years it can take to culture,train language, train Language.
Training sometimes can belearning more than one language.
Right, because there can be amajority language, another trade
language, there can be aminority language, different
dialects.
You have been on site-ish fortwo and a half years, but you
(30:23):
are not yet in the people group,the specific group that you are
preparing to go to.
So what we're sharing today isbeautiful stories of your
experience in the region, buttell us about what's coming up.
So first fruit, what's happenedin the two and a half years
just in the region, and thenwhat's going to happen next as
(30:46):
you prayerfully go in.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
I actually think these twoquestions are connected in some
ways.
I think they inform each other,because if people ask me, like
what kind of fruit have you seen?
It's sometimes difficult toanswer because what is fruit
Like, what is fruit of the work?
Ultimately, I want to say it'sseeing people come to Christ.
(31:09):
It's seeing people believe inChrist.
Have I seen that in two and ahalf years?
No, I think two and a halfyears is really the kind of ramp
up to just starting work.
If we're talking about the truework, I want to say that's
proclamation of the gospel.
To get to a point where you canproclaim the gospel, there's a
(31:30):
lot of work involved inunderstanding the people and
understanding the way that theylive, the way that they interact
.
Like you want to be respectful,you have to learn how to be
respectful.
You want to be kind, you haveto learn how to be kind all over
again, not to mention language.
Language is just a whole notherbeast.
Like how do you say something,knowing how they're going to
(31:51):
interpret it?
Like you can't actually justsay God, they have so many words
for God.
What do each one of those meanand what kind of baggage do
those words come with?
And what word am I going to usefor our God, for the one true
God?
And then how do I tell themthat that God is different from
any other God that they've everheard of?
All of that takes an incredibleamount of time and effort.
(32:11):
So I would say a lot of thefruit in the last two and a half
years, from my perspective, hasbeen, I guess, what you would
call like seed planting, justkind of spending my time and my
efforts in a way that otherpeople can see that I'm
different and that thosedifferences relate to me being
Christian.
And so I have had a lot offriends say things like hey,
(32:33):
I've never had a friend like you.
You know, I've never actuallyhad a friend that like sat and
like listened to me so intentlyand like thought about me when I
wasn't there and cared and thenchecked in again to see how
that thing went that I told themabout.
Like they don't really do thatwith friends in their culture.
They more so do it with family.
And so to have a friend,especially in kind of the weird
(32:55):
position that I'm in where Idon't know anybody and I need
help, and so we really buildbonds, kind of through very
practical means, like, hey, Idon't know how to buy vegetables
, can you help me buy vegetables?
And they've seen me go fromthat to like, hey, let's talk
about you know our spiritualbeliefs.
It's kind of a special bondthat you make with people who
(33:16):
are able to go with you on thatjourney and then they're like
really seeing you.
They're really seeing that youlive by the things that you say,
you do or you don't.
You know the ways that I failsometimes to be, to be kind or
to be loving, and I apologize,you know that's they've never
seen anybody do that ever.
That's strange, it's reallyreally strange.
(33:38):
And so there's just ways whereI'm different that they notice
and they pick up on and thenthey respond to kind of in their
human way.
So that's really sweet.
And then there have been acouple friends that I've
actually been able to walkthrough the biblical narrative
with, and those are pretty longstories, but I would say overall
, to kind of sum it up, like itis amazing to watch unbelievers
(34:00):
who have never seen a Bible hearthese stories for the first
time, having no idea wherethey're going.
I mean, as a Christian who grewup in a church, like I cannot
fathom not knowing how thisBible story is going to end,
like I don't know what I wouldthink if someone started telling
me this story of Moses and Ihad no idea where this is going.
(34:20):
You know, like he, he does whatand then he goes where and his
mom says what, like why you know?
It's just really really odd.
But at the same time, likethere's kind of a wonder and
excitement in unbelievershearing these stories and they
recognize the depth in them,even though they don't believe
in God.
They recognize the stories assomething that is true, as
something that is enlighteningin some way in their kind of
(34:44):
limited, unbelieving way.
Yeah, so that's been a realprivilege for me.
And then seeing kind of likethey now have a foundation for
us to discuss further.
So now we kind of can dig intothose spiritual topics with a
lot more grit because they havecontext for who Jesus is.
So when I talk about thingslike no, I won't do that or I
(35:05):
can't do that because of this,there's way more for us to go
into.
Because we've talked about thegolden calf, we've talked about
the 10 commandments, we'vetalked about Jesus and who he is
, and how he is good and how heis worthy and how I'm not living
a life of rules.
I'm living a life of grace andmercy, and those things were not
(35:26):
words that existed previouslyin their vocabulary.
It's just groundwork, right,it's just groundwork, but I'm
hopeful for that and I'm justamazed that God can do that in
two and a half years, that youcould go from not knowing how to
say hello to being able to havethese kinds of relationships
with people.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
So, as we're talking about fruit, it is something
that will take a really longtime, kind of our ultimate goal
in this.
As you mentioned already andsummarized really well, some of
these unreached people groupsthat are left are difficult to
get to for a reason.
I mean, people like to saythey're last for a reason, and
so a lot of these groups willrequire learning two languages.
(36:05):
You'll have to learn thenational language and then the
language of the specific peoplegroup, and that is our case as
well.
So the people group we want towork with, they speak the
language other than the nationallanguage.
It's not actually related atall, which is unfortunate.
It's a different languagefamily and so we're kind of, in
a lot of ways, starting fromscratch, but not quite, because
there's a lot of culturaloverlap this people group and
(36:27):
the majority group.
So there are categories forwords that we already have now
because we've learned thenational language, but the words
themselves are completelydifferent, and so that will be
kind of another journey.
And then, besides the languageand culture acquisition, the
biggest challenge I think in thenext steps will be kind of
another journey.
And then, besides the languageand culture acquisition, the
biggest challenge I think in thenext steps will be our identity
(36:48):
and our access to the region.
So part of the reason thatwe're talking in these kind of
general terms is because thegovernment of the country we
work in does not allowmissionaries to work there, and
so it's not legal to be amissionary, particularly in
these sensitive areas.
So you can kind of get awaywith it in the big cities.
Honestly, like they don'treally.
(37:08):
They kind of know and theydon't mind.
When you're talking about thesecountryside areas where no
foreigners live, where nomajority people live, they're
pretty sensitive.
And so for us to say, hey,we're American and we want to go
there, we need to have a really, really clear and solid reason
for it.
And when we go and we livethere, we will be the first
(37:30):
foreigners to ever do so.
So we really need to be able toexplain why we're there to
tourists.
They're friendly to peoplecoming through.
But if you want to live there,it's so strange and it's so
weird that you're going to haveto have a really creative
platform to be able to be there.
(37:52):
And I say platform not as a kindof like cover, like I don't say
cover, because we want to bepeople of integrity.
So everything that we say we'redoing, we have to actually be
doing.
If I go to a certain area and Isay I want to dig a, well, I
have to be people of integrity.
So everything that we say we'redoing, we have to actually be
doing.
If I go to a certain area and Isay I want to dig a, well, I
have to actually dig that well,you know, we are people of our
word.
Everything that we do in thenext years to come will partly
(38:14):
be so that we can just existthere, like not just so that we
can, you know, preach the gospel.
But you know, preaching thegospel, but preaching the gospel
takes time.
Learning language takes time.
To get that time, we have tohave a reason to be there, which
usually is running a business.
So basically, we're going tohave to set up a business out of
scratch and we're not businesspeople.
So you can imagine that's kindof a long journey for us and
(38:38):
then, along the way, it's reallyall in God's hands.
I'm a very logical person.
I'm a very logical person.
I'm a very analytical person.
I like to make plans.
If you put this plan on paper,I'm not sure there's a logical
person out there that wouldn'tsay what a terrible plan.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
It doesn't pencil Like it doesn't add up in no
ways.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I can see a thousand ways where this is going to fall
apart and this is going to gowrong.
It would not work in like somany ways, and the only reason
we do it is because we have hopein God who can do all things,
and so that's been a personaljourney.
For me is like seeing my faithin God needing to increase as we
do this because just thelogical part of me is like
(39:15):
that's not going to work andthat's not going to work and
that's not going to happen andthis is a bad idea.
But seeing God kind of overcomethose barriers in my own heart
and obstacles and seeing him dothings and bring me into
people's lives in ways that Idid not think I was a good fit
for or ways that I did not thinkI was equipped for, has been
really encouraging personally.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
This has been so cool , I'm so glad you came in.
It was a layup when theopportunity came to have you on
the pod and to kick off a newseason and a new year.
What a special experience.
Maya, you've got a beautifulstory.
You've got a beautiful heart.
We're thrilled to be a smallpart of it.
And just whatever God's got onyour heart right now, would you
(39:54):
just turn that loose on all ofus?
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah for sure.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we love youbecause you first loved us.
We are grateful for all theways that you provide for us,
all the ways that we are able tosee and know, and all the ways
that we don't even know or can'timagine.
God, we trust that you are themaker of this world, that you
are the maker of all peoples.
(40:17):
We can't fathom how deep yourlove is for the people that
we're trying to reach, but weknow that you have all things
for their good and in your plan,god, you will use all things
for the good of your childrenand for your own glory.
God, I pray for our team andour plans.
(40:39):
God, I pray that you would usewhat little we have to offer,
that you would make much of it.
God, we know that we havereceived all good things from
you, that you are the source,and we seek to give those things
back to you.
God, we pray that you wouldhelp us with that.
Help us to love you more deeply, to be more faithful to you and
(41:02):
to the work that you haveprovided for us.
God, I pray for the listeners ofthis podcast and for the makers
of it as well.
God, I pray that you wouldencourage their hearts in the
work that you are doing acrossthe world.
God, I pray that you would usethis podcast and use these
stories for your sake and foryour plans.
I don't know who's listening tothis, or where, or when.
(41:25):
God, I know that it's at theperfect time because you have
ordained it, and I pray that youwould continue to work out your
ways and your wisdom in thehearts of those who are
listening.
God, we seek to serve you welland we seek to respond to the
grace that we have been given.
(41:46):
I trust that your Holy Spiritwill do those good things.
We pray all these things inyour precious name, amen.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
And amen.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
(42:15):
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
you want to connect with us,find us on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
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